Picking the best stall at a crowded supercharger

[bshure]

If a supercharger is crowded, I'd like the car to recommend the best stall to use!

I know this information is available because I called support and asked for it. I ended up staying in the stall I picked because the partner was almost at the point of getting less energy.

I saw another car try three different stalls while I was there. I believe they were looking for a faster charge rate.

Apologies if there is an easy way to find this information.

 

[DOCAL]

The only thing I've done if there are no unpaired stalls, is look to see if any of the cars have flashing charge ports (look for cars with people still inside them). Then pick the one that's flashing the slowest.

 

[BerTX]

The only thing I've done if there are no unpaired stalls, is look to see if any of the cars have flashing charge ports (look for cars with people still inside them). Then pick the one that's flashing the slowest.

Hmm, seems that Tesla could have the charge port light work at all times at a Supercharger, even if the car is locked. Seems like a pretty easy SW change. The idea is that the light is supposed to go out to keep from attracting attention to the car, but that seems a little pointless at a SC.

 

[thecloud]

If a supercharger is crowded, I'd like the car to recommend the best stall to use!

That is a great suggestion!

I saw another car try three different stalls while I was there. I believe they were looking for a faster charge rate.

I've done that myself, because I knew that I should be getting a much faster charging rate.

As you probably know, supercharger stalls are usually paired, with labels on the charging cabinet to show you which is 'A' and which is 'B'. If someone is charging at the 'A' stall in a pair, you should avoid pulling into the 'B' stall (and vice-versa). You would take a stall where someone is occupying the other half only if there are no unoccupied pairs left, because then both cars in the pair get a reduced charging rate.

The nav display in the car will show you the expected maximum charging rate for a supercharger pair, e.g. 120kW. That means if you are sharing a pair with someone else, you should be getting somewhere up to 60kW. If you're getting way less than that, and your battery isn't even half full yet, then you should try moving to another stall.

 

[gaswalla]

look for the pairs, and pick a supercharger in which the A and B are not being used... that is simple (and obvious?)
If you have to pick a supercharger that has the other half of the pair already in use, remember that the total output is usually 120kw, and the car that plugged in first gets priority and the second car gets the remainder of the power. So, if I show up with a batter near empty and start charging at 100kw, you'll get 20kw if you plug in during that brief period that I'm charging at a high rate. On the other hand, if I'm at 60%,and charging at 50kw (or so..), you'll plug in and get 70kw. If you know the state of the charge of the other car charging on the pair, you want to pick the car that is near the 'end of the taper' or at a higher SOC to maximize your charge rate

 

[thecloud]

Not to disagree with @gaswalla 's post, since we do appear to generally agree here, but the assertion that I'll get over 60kW if I plug in when you are still charging in the paired stall (even at a low rate, like 10-20kW) is something I have yet to personally experience. It could be that I've just been unlucky and hit some poorly performing chargers.

 

[TaoJones]

There is a feature request to add value to the red/grey bars by using green/yellow/red to show relative pedestal health.

Should probably update the feature request to include a toggle in the Nav app settings for color-blindness (and therefore either different colors or patterns).

Anyway, until more information is provided to the driver via the feature request referenced above, there is something you can do before embarking upon a leg of a long road trip after entering the leg’s destination in Nav.

Once the SCs list is provided by Nav or for example by evtriplanner.com, just before leaving, call Tesla owner support. Give them the list of SCs (let’s say there are 6 for a 750-800 mile leg) and ask for the best pedestals or the ones to avoid per site.

This will be 5 minutes per day well spent, since it greatly reduces the odds of having to play pedestal roulette at 1 or more SCs. Hours per day can be saved and one’s sleep schedule preserved as a result.

I encountered an alarming number of bad pedestals earlier this year while schlepping from SoCal to and through British Columbia and Calgary north past the new at the time Edmonton SC. So now I call once per leg and that’s that.

Once they add value per the feature request to the Nav display per SC, we won’t have to call. Win-win.